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I number-crunched the 65 largest US cities for current population densities based on the 2017 estimates. 45% of those cities have population densities between 2500/ppsm and 4999/ppsm. This is by far the most prevalent class of population densities in the United States, and it confirms something I always suspected but never spent the time to confirm, which is, when people on here rant and rave about cities with high population densities, we have to remember that in this country, those high density cities are not the norm...
The mean density of the 65 largest cities is 5662/ppsm. New York is the only city with a population density over 20,000/ppsm. Furthermore, there are only seven other cities in the Top 65 with 10,000/ppsm (SF, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Newark, Philly, DC). There are 12 cities below 2500/ppsm; none are Northeast cities; only one is a western city (SLC) and three are Midwest cities (Des Moines, Indy, KC)...the only major Northeastern city with a density below 5000/ppsm is Albany (4587)...
I just thought it was interesting to crunch core city densities with the new estimates!
I number-crunched the 65 largest US cities for current population densities based on the 2017 estimates. 45% of those cities have population densities between 2500/ppsm and 4999/ppsm. This is by far the most prevalent class of population densities in the United States, and it confirms something I always suspected but never spent the time to confirm, which is, when people on here rant and rave about cities with high population densities, we have to remember that in this country, those high density cities are not the norm...
The mean density of the 65 largest cities is 5662/ppsm. New York is the only city with a population density over 20,000/ppsm. Furthermore, there are only seven other cities in the Top 65 with 10,000/ppsm (SF, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Newark, Philly, DC). There are 12 cities below 2500/ppsm; none are Northeast cities; only one is a western city (SLC) and three are Midwest cities (Des Moines, Indy, KC)...the only major Northeastern city with a density below 5000/ppsm is Albany (4587)...
I just thought it was interesting to crunch core city densities with the new estimates!
I don't think that any of this is surprising, especially given that older cities aren't widespread like many of the larger newer cities in the top 65. Some of these cities are geographically enormous. I'd be curious what the median physical size of these cities is. There are many that are over 200 and 300 square miles. For a sunbelt city that's not old at all, Miami is an anomaly. It's barely a hundred years old but it's less than 36 square miles.
These cities in bold asking with Atlanta and Miami we all wildly overestimated before the last Census. These lists are fun to go over but don't put your money on em.
Last time they were talking about Atlanta being 550k, Dallas passing San Diego ; San Antonio and Phoenix passing Philly, but all got scaled back.
Also, Houston was underestimated and had to be scaled up.
City estimates are less reliable than county ones
I suspect that Miami's Census will be way lower than its estimates leading up to it due to new citizenship questions planned for the Census. Miami is filled with immigrants, and I suspect that many will be more than hesitant to participate in the Census. That said, Miami proper's growth sure looks real to the naked eye. Ten of thousands of housing units have been built in the core since the last Census and new ones seem to be announced monthly, if not weekly.
I suspect that Miami's Census will be way lower than its estimates leading up to it due to new citizenship questions planned for the Census. Miami is filled with immigrants, and I suspect that many will be more than hesitant to participate in the Census. That said, Miami proper's growth sure looks real to the naked eye. Ten of thousands of housing units have been built in the core since the last Census and new ones seem to be announced monthly, if not weekly.
Miami will be 500k in few years the city adding 10-20k new residents a year
These cities in bold asking with Atlanta and Miami we all wildly overestimated before the last Census. These lists are fun to go over but don't put your money on em.
Last time they were talking about Atlanta being 550k, Dallas passing San Diego ; San Antonio and Phoenix passing Philly, but all got scaled back.
Also, Houston was underestimated and had to be scaled up.
City estimates are less reliable than county ones
Definitely will be scaled back so significantly especially if the "citizen" question is included.
One problem: new "Are you an American citizen" question will put a kibosh to the idea of Miami having near 500,000.
Yeah, that was my point a few posts back. Also, many of Miami's new residential units are second homes. It's hard to tell who's a resident and who's not. Adding the citizenship question to the Census will have its desired effect of excluding them in official counts. A good number will just choose to not participate. Frankly, I'm surprised that Miami hasn't seen more ICE activity than it has, though I do personally know of people who have been scooped up and find themselves in expensive legal limbo at the moment.
Also, it's hyperbole to say that Miami has been adding 10-20,000 residents a year. It's been more like 9-10,000. Even then, it's super impressive that a city of less than 36 square miles can add that many people yearly. That's like 275 ppl/sqm per year. In a decade, Miami will add about as much density to its city as all of current day Charlotte, NC. The city will likely end the decade somewhere around 13,000 ppl/sqm.
Well then that's a good omen. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016.
I'm aware of that. However, having lived in Illinois for many years, it was funny! (I was actually a Cards fan when I lived there in the central part of the state.)
Yeah, that was my point a few posts back. Also, many of Miami's new residential units are second homes. It's hard to tell who's a resident and who's not. Adding the citizenship question to the Census will have its desired effect of excluding them in official counts. A good number will just choose to not participate. Frankly, I'm surprised that Miami hasn't seen more ICE activity than it has, though I do personally know of people who have been scooped up and find themselves in expensive legal limbo at the moment.
Also, it's hyperbole to say that Miami has been adding 10-20,000 residents a year. It's been more like 9-10,000. Even then, it's super impressive that a city of less than 36 square miles can add that many people yearly. That's like 275 ppl/sqm per year. In a decade, Miami will add about as much density to its city as all of current day Charlotte, NC. The city will likely end the decade somewhere around 13,000 ppl/sqm.
Milano will be insulated than say Dallas because a huge part of their immigrant community is Cuban.
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